World News - 'Witches' Living In Exile In Ghana Camps Try To Help Isolated Widows In Africa

A year ago, Fatimata Chimsi was living happily with her son, his wife, and the couple's six children in Karaga, a tiny village in northern Ghana. That is, until the longtime widow was accused of being a witch in late 2004. Furious neighbors insisted that Ms. Chimsi had "killed" an elderly man. Afraid that she might be lynched, she fled in the middle of the night, riding on the back of her son's motorbike. Today, Chimsi resides at the Kpatinga "witches" camp. Mournfully rocking back and forth on a bamboo mat in her clay hut, she cries, "If my family wasn't allowed to visit me, I would die from loneliness." More than 1,000 women live in exile among six camps in this impoverished region. Isolating widows or older women as witches is a deep-rooted custom in this part of the world. Indeed, accusations of witchcraft may be seen as a way to keep women subservient in African society. ... http://www.cbsnews.com

The U.S. population is on target to hit 300 million this fall and it is a good bet the milestone baby — or immigrant — will be Hispanic. No one will know for sure because the date and time will be just an estimate.But both Latino immigrants and those born in the United States are driving the population growth, accounting for almost half the increase last year, more than any other ethnic or racial group.White non-Hispanics, who make up about two-thirds of the population, accounted for less than one-fifth of the increase.When the population reached 200 million in 1967, there was no accurate tally of U.S. Hispanics. The first effort to count Hispanics came in the 1970 census, and the results were dubious....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200875,00.html

A powerful earthquake struck Indonesia's Sulawesi island early Sunday, panicking residents but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, the Hong Kong Observatory said. The 6.2-magnitude quake, which hit just before dawn, was centered under the sea 180 miles southwest of the city of Manado on the central island of Sulawesi, the observatory said in a statement. "I was so shocked because my furniture and my roof started creaking," one witnesses in Gorantolo city told Indonesia's state news agency Antara. "When the shaking started, I immediately thought of my wife and child who were still asleep." The agency said many people in the city fled their houses when the quake struck. There were no reports of damage or injuries. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/24/world/main1749359.shtml?source=RSS&attr=World_1749359

Republicans are betting their control of the House on the issue of immigration, and no test case is being watched more closely than the party's primary election here. Five-term Rep. Chris Cannon says he opposes amnesty for the estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens in the United States, but supports a "guest-worker" program that would allow them to stay in the country indefinitely. Challenger John Jacob, a local developer and political novice who forced the primary by defeating Mr. Cannon at the Republican convention last month, calls such proposals "amnesty" and says Mr. Cannon should be removed from office. "We need to stop up the borders now," he said in a taped debate last week on the University of Utah's public television station. ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060625-011136-9412r.htm

Coalition anti-terror missions, such as the air strike that killed Abu Musab al Zarqawi, could be hampered under Iraqi government proposals to coax Sunni insurgents into the peace process.The 28-point peace strategy to be put forward by Iraq's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to the country's parliament today, includes a proposed halt to "anti-terrorist operations" by foreign forces in rebel-supporting areas. The move, and an amnesty for all guerrilla groups except al-Qaeda extremists, is designed to pacify the rebels and offer them incentives to engage in the political process. Western security sources are anxious that the clause will weaken British and American operations against Zarqawi's successors in al-Qaeda's leadership....http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/06/25/wirq125.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/25/ixnews.html

A national reconciliation plan for Iraq calls for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops and, controversially, amnesty for insurgents who attacked American and Iraqi soldiers. A timetable for withdrawal of occupation troops from Iraq. Amnesty for all insurgents who attacked U.S. and Iraqi military targets. Release of all security detainees from U.S. and Iraqi prisons. Compensation for victims of coalition military operations. Those sound like the demands of some of the insurgents themselves, and in fact they are. But they're also key clauses of a national reconciliation plan drafted by new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who will unveil it Sunday. The provisions will spark sharp debate in Iraq—but the fiercest opposition is likely to come from Washington, which has opposed any talk of timetables, or of amnesty for insurgents who have attacked American soldiers....http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13521628/site/newsweek/